Risk Communication in the Context of Pandemics/Epidemics by Claudine Burton-Jeangros

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This course proposes an overview of current global health challenges drawing on the insights of several academic disciplines including medicine, public health, law, economics, social sciences and humanities. This interdisciplinary approach will guide the student into seven critical topics in global health.

从本节课中

Emerging Trends in Global Health: Infectious Diseases

There are 7 parts to module 3. Lessons 3 & 4 are both introductory sections that describe key concepts necessary to understand infectious diseases and how we deal with them. Lesson 5 constitutes the core lesson of module 3. This lesson focuses on the current global situation and future challenges for the most prominent infectious diseases of the world. In lessons 6-9 we discuss neglected tropical diseases, re-emerging infectious diseases and epidemics/pandemics. Finally, lesson 10 and 10b summarize module 3 in a set of key conclusions.

与讲师见面

Rafael Ruiz De Castañeda

Institute of Global Health - Faculty of MedicineUniversity of Geneva

Antoine Flahault

Professor of Public Health and Director of the Institute of Global Health (Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva) and co-Director of Centre Virchow-Villermé (Université Paris Descartes)University of Geneva and Université Paris Descartes – Sorbonne Paris Cité

[MUSIC]

I will talk to you about Swiss communications in the context of pandemics

and epidemics.

I have this quote here from the bulletin of the World Health Organization,

that emphasizes how much communication is playing a central role

in protecting people's health around the world in case of outbreaks

of those epidemics or pandemics.

And it's something that's recognized as very important today in the way

those epidemics and pandemics are being addressed by the international and

national level authorities.

My outline for this presentation is a definition or

some definitions related to risk communication at first.

Then to talk to you about public health and

risk communication, how this has developed.

Then to address some challenges that are raised by risk communication,

especially around the H1N1 pandemic in 2009 and 2010, and then a conclusion.

First about risk communication.

In risk governance, communication is supposed to be at the center and

that's what's shown on this figure there.

It used to be that communication was sort of at the end of the process,

once experts had identified,

analyzed and managed risk then they would take care of communication.

Today it's considered very important that communication is at the center and

there right from the beginning.

Risk communication refers to this exchange of information and

opinions between the experts, the authorities, the agency, and

the public, those who are at risk of a potential pandemic or epidemic.

It's a bit different from crisis communication which refers to a critical

situation where there are immediate needs for communication.

Risk communication usually extends longer over time.

How did risk communication developed in the field of public health?

I will mostly talk about the World Health Organization at first, and

then the Center for Disease Control in the United States.

In the World Health Organization, it was an event, an outbreak in 2002, 2003,

the outbreak of SAARS, that initiated developments in risk communication.

Experts realizing that there was really an issue about communication

regarding those outbreaks.

And starting in 2004, the agency made some work and

produced brochures and guidelines about risk communication.

And here you have the objectives of this risk communication,

which are a different levels.

Risk communication is supposed to improve disease surveillance.

We need to know, to have information about the outbreaks to be able to

produce surveillance and to know the extent of the disease.

It's also supposed to help protective behaviors in the population.

If people have to take measures to protect themselves against an epidemic,

they need to know about it.

And then it's also to have a better use of resources in communities.

If people know about the outbreaks, the extents they have,

this will also be important thing.

The allocation of resources, and then the goal is always to limit confusion.

There was some confusion related to thought and

the ideas to avoid this situation later on.

This figure there is showing the potential objective for

impact of risk communication.

In red you have what happens before somehow the communication is really

setting place and if nothing happens then there would be a much bigger outbreak,

a much larger consequences and

if risk communication is properly set up at the beginning of the epidemic.

In the following show you find some guidelines,

some principle about developing with communication.

And there is a publication you can find online which describes them.

One thing that's emphasized very much is the issue of trust.

Communication is about trust.

Having the public trust the agencies,

the public health authorities is very important.

A second principle we first taught announcing early,

is not considered very important to talk about it even when there is no evidence,